Master of Arts: Missional Leadership

Northwest Nazarene University's online Masters Degree in Missional Leadership explore the theory and practice of christian leadership as it applies outside the walls of the church. Through courses and materials focusing on creative and missional engagement, students are empowered and trained to become innovative kingdom- builders. Earn an M.Div. within 50 months or an M.A. in less than two years without any residential requirements.

Our online Masters Degree in Missional Leadership program emphasizes the need for Christ followers to live out the gospel so that it is seen and experienced in community. By challenging students to empower others to take ministry outside the walls of the church, the program marries mission with the wholeness of life, both personally and culturally. This program advances missional leadership as both incarnational and holistic: missional leaders recognize the value of tradition and both the opportunities and pitfalls within culture; they lead through servanthood; and they seek to ground their ministries biblically and theologically.

Students in NNU's MDIVML program complete an online orientation, 42 credits in their pastoral ministry core, and 32 hours of emphasis in Missional Leadership. After completing an online orientation, MAML students focus their studies strictly around the same eight Missional Leadership courses in which MDIVML students take as their emphasis, as shown in the comparison to the right.

Financial aid is available for those who qualify, or students may take advantage of a zero interest monthly payment plan. Avoid expensive travel costs associated with modular programs at other seminaries, not to mention costly time away from home and your workplace. Tuition discounts are also available to assigned Nazarene clergy.

*Nazarene Clergy Services has not validated NNU's MAML program as meeting all of the denomination's educational requirements for ordination. Districts may determine that some courses in this program fulfill particular competencies, however. Students who desire to study in the area of Missional Leadership and seek to complete their educational requirements for ordination should enroll in NNU's Master of Divinity track in Missional Leadership, which has been validated by Nazarene Clergy Services.

Course Descriptions

BIBL6540. Gospel & Culture (4 credits): This course approaches the biblical texts from a Christocentric narrative with special attention given to the role of culture on the biblical writers, as well as those who have interpreted Scripture in the past and present.

CHIS6540. Wesleyan Tradition in Context (4 credits): This course explores how John Wesley's historic vision for the practice of Christian ministry engaged his cultural context. Students will also assess how Wesley's approach to theology and practice may serve as a foundation for missional ministry engagement today.

PHIL7540. Premodern, Modern & Postmodern Philosophies (4 credits): This course examines the breadth of human thought across the history of philosophy. Special attention will be given to the ways in which these philosophical perspectives have shaped or been shaped by the Christian message.

PRTH6000. OnRamp Program Orientation (0 credit): This course will orient the student to the resources, procedures, electronic operations, and expectations of the program.

PRTH6140. Introduction to Ministry & Culture (4 credits): This course introduces students to the discipline and challenge of missional leadership today. As the first course in the program, this course offers extensive examination of the nature and scope of missional leadership, and deeper understanding of the cultural contexts in which students live and serve.

PRTH6840. Missional Discipleship (4 credits): This course recognizes the holistic approach for uniting discipleship and evangelism by examining what it means to be faithful disciples of the gospel in light of the nature of the Church and its mission to the world. Students explore how culture shapes an understanding of Gospel, Church, and ministry and intergrate theological insights in developing a missional discipleship strategy to inform a ministry response to their own local context.

PRTH7540. Missional Practicum (4 credits): This course at the beginning of a student's second year of study centers on a five-day on-site practicum with his or her colleagues through interactions with a variety of leading edge missional pastors and churches in the Pacific Northwest. Students who cannot attend the practicum personally may also participate online through webcasting technologies.

PRTH7940. Community, Context & Transition (4 credits): In this course, students develop a ministry project from their own cultural context, assessing their own leadership, church structures, and community needs and developing strategies for more effective missional ministry implementation.

THEO7940. Theology of Leadership (4 credits): This course explores the implications of how a missional understanding of God shapes followers of Christ and faith communities, as well as how various theologies relate to our understanding of God. Special attention will be given to evangelism, church structure, and ecclesiology.